Gohan's New Life
by Burrosis
Summary: Soon after Goku decides to remain dead, ChiChi loses the will to live. Bulma tries to adopt Gohan, but cannot due to him training in space. How will Gohan grow with 'parents' not in the loop? Will he tell them? Can they handle it? GxV eventual
1. New Journey

Disclaimer:It's sad that I have to say this, but I own nothing.

Note: This takes place right after Goku is done telling the group on the lookout that he doesn't want to be wished back. Hopefully everything is stated clearly enough. When there is a different language than english being said, it will be in bold with something saying which language it is.

Gohan was devastated. His father chose not to come back to life. He chose to protect the earth by abandoning it. Gohan did not necessarily blame his father for his choice, having just saved the world himself. Being a true hero means that no matter what there will always have to be sacrifices made to keep peace.

The whole group minus ChiChi were at the lookout. They all heard what Goku had said. Like a true hero, he put the safety of his loved ones before his own happiness. Everyone was silent. Even Gohan would not make a noise. Though almost everyone had silent tears running down their cheeks. Their most trusted friend, and most powerful ally had finally perished.

Gohan was the one to break the silence. "Hey guys, I have to go tell my mom. I guess I'll see you all around." Gohan said in a sad monotone voice. Everyone heard and understood. Gohan needed to be alone for a while and he would take the responsibility to tell Goku's beloved wife the news of his passing. One by one, everyone let the lookout, leaving just Dende and Mr. Popo to go about their duties.

Gohan needed to tell ChiChi right away. The longer he put this off, the more she would worry about both of her boys. Flying away from the lookout, his eyes were still blurry from his silent tears for his father's act. When he made it back to his home in the mountains, he quickly and quietly made his way through the house to find his mother.

When Gohan found his mother she jumped up from the couch where she was waiting and ran to her son giving him a hug. Gohan quietly told his mother that during the battle Goku had given his life to save the planet from certain destruction. He had also explained to his mother Goku's choice to remain dead to protect the Earth. As Gohan expected, ChiChi had fainted because the news was just too much. Gohan gently picked his mother up and moved her to her bedroom so that she could lay comfortably.

Gohan's stomach made itself known, so instead of watching his mother sleep he made his way to the kitchen and made himself a light snack to tide him over until his mother woke up. Done with eating, Gohan went back to his mother to see if she had woken up from her fainting spell. As the minutes dragged into hours, Gohan started to get worried. As a safety precaution, the demi-saiyan called Bulma and asked her to come over to check on his mother. The head of Capsule Corp. quickly agreed and made her way to the Son residence.

Having heard the situation from her best friend's son, Bulma was worried. This was not normal, even by their standards. Bulma made her way to ChiChi as fast as she could. She had never seen her friend like this before, even after Goku died the first time and Gohan was kidnapped. The blue haired genius could tell that there was something seriously wrong with her best friend. With Gohan's help ChiChi was in the Capsule Corp. jet alongside her. Their destination was the one and only Capsule Corp headquarters.

Gohan was flying alongside the jet containing both Bulma and his mother. He was worried. He had never seen Bulma act like this. '_Could this be a Saiyan thing? As Vegeta always said, a Saiyan has nothing more important than his mate.'_ He resolved to ask Vegeta when they landed.

Finally the landed and Gohan was again assigned the task of carefully moving his mother into one of the many medical facilities in the one and only Capsule Corp. Once his mother was set up in the medical room, with Bulma already doing all sorts of tests, Gohan quietly left the room in search of some answers.

He found Vegeta in the hallway, on his way to the Gravity Room. Gohan stopped his prince there and started on his list of questions. "Vegeta, what happens when a Saiyan loses his mate?" Vegeta gave the younger half saiyan a knowing look and responded, "When a bonded Saiyan pair is forcibly separated from one another without the chance of reuniting, generally they lose interest in everything. In extreme circumstances they lose the will to live and find a way to die as soon as possible."

Gohan was shocked. "Does this mean that my mother will try to kill herself? Is there anything we can do to fix this?" Vegeta uncrossed his arms and told they younger saiyan to follow him. They made their way to the GR for some privacy. Vegeta continued with one hand on Gohan's shoulder. "Listen Kakabrat, if the banshee woman were to get past losing her mate, she would be a shell of her former self. She wouldn't care about anything. She would slowly deteriorate into nothing. The woman you knew will never come back. If she were saiyan, I could say for certain that she would not try to kill herself, simply because that is a cowardly act and no saiyan is a coward. The woman is better off if she died now, to save herself and those around her suffering. This is the reason Saiyan's protect their mates at all costs. You should remember that."

After his little speech, Vegeta turned and made his way to the computer in the center of the room yelling, "Now, GET OUT of my gravity room!" Gohan quickly followed the thinly veiled threat behind the Prince of all Saiyan's words. As he was making his way back to the room where his mother was kept he almost ran into Bulma. "Hey Bulma, how is my mother doing? Is there anything you can do for her?" All the while thinking '_Please don't let Vegeta be right'_ Bulma's answer crushed all hope the little demi-saiyan had. "Kid, I don't know what is wrong with her. Physically she is as healthy as she has always been. She just won't wake up." Upon seeing Gohan's resigned expression on his face, she became curious. "What's up with you, you seemed to almost expect this?" Gohan hesitantly looked up into Bulma's eyes and said, "I talked with Vegeta, and what I got out of it was that this can happen when a Saiyan loses his mate. They lose the will to live and just erode away."

Bulma saw her godson's pained expression and wrapped him up in a hug. "Don't worry kid, if that happens, and I'm saying if, I'll make sure that you are adopted by me so you don't have to worry about anything."

"Either way, Bulma could you please make a space ship like my dad's old one for me." Gohan pleaded. "I need to get away from everything, and this is the only way I can do that." Bulma however was already shaking her head and just as she was going to open her mouth, Vegeta came around the corner lightly sweating from his short time in the gravity room. "Woman, let Kakabrat go. He needs this. He will not do anything stupid. He is one of the last Saiyan warriors left in this universe and he will leave this puny planet to train." With that statement he crossed his arms and dared his mate to go against him.

Bulma seeing this as one of the few times that she would not be able to sway her mate, caved. She simply nodded and left to find her father to get started on her new project. Gohan turned to Vegeta and gave a small smile. This first since before the Cell Games. "Brat, follow me. There are things you need to learn quickly before you leave." With that statement he simply turned and went back into his gravity room.

The demi-saiyan simply shrugged to nobody in particular and followed. That was the first two weeks of intense learning sessions for Gohan. Partially thanks to his mother he was a very quick study in the languages that Vegeta wanted to teach him. Gohan already spoke quite a few of Earth's languages and learning what Vegeta said was the Universal Language was no harder. Along with that Vegeta taught him saiya-go which was the near dead language of the long gone Saiyans.

Gohan was grateful that Vegeta decided to teach him these things, for he didn't know if he would have been able to do what he wanted without learning them. Gohan's plan was to first go to the planet Yardrat so that he could meet the people his father spent some time with while recovering from his fight with Frieza on Namek. Also Gohan wanted to go there so that he could learn his father's Instant Transmission technique, since he was never taught. The demi-saiyan thought that it would further his connection with his father if he learned some of the techniques that his father used throughout the years. Yardrat seemed like a good place to start.

Though Vegeta never showed it, he was proud to know Gohan. While it still infuriated him that a mere child could surpass him in strength, he respected the demi-saiyan. The only other person he came close to respecting was his mate, possibly the namek also. Vegeta was also surprised at the brat's intelligence. He picked up two new languages very quickly, and while he was not as proficient as some of those he knew, including himself. It was still a great feat to accomplish.

Two weeks had passed since Goku had chosen not to return to the realm of the living. Two weeks since ChiChi had been reduced to a coma-like state. Two weeks since Vegeta had decided to teach Gohan languages to better his journey.

Now the space ship was ready. Gohan was ready. Bulma grabbed both of the Saiyans from her mate's precious gravity room and lead them to her godson's new space ship. As the group made it to the ship Bulma started speaking. "Now kid, you're sure you want to do this alone. I am sure that others would be more than willing to go with you." She paused waiting for Gohan to change his mind. She wasn't that lucky.

"Your new ship is much faster than your father's old one. Also the gravity machine in there just happens to be better than the one in Vegeta's precious gravity room." She shot a glare at her husband. "With this new model you can go up to 5,000x Earth's gravity, if you need it. Any ki blasts that you fire will be absorbed by the walls to further power the ship and make more food." She glanced at Gohan before continuing. "That was the only way I could make sure that you would not run out of food with your bottomless pit of a stomach." Gohan grinned sheepishly with a hand rubbing the back of his head. "Bedroom is fairly simple, along with the kitchen, but here in the room directly next to the training room, I installed this new rejuvenation tank. With this you can go all out without too much worry about recovery time." She paused again to catch her breath and wait for any questions. Seeing that there were none she continued.

"Controlling the ship is mostly automated. You punch in the coordinates for the planet or the name and the ship will do all of the work for you. Landing, taking off, steering out of danger is all done by the computer, which is voice activated. This computer is also tied into your gravity machine so you just tell that you want to train with and it will set it up for you." She gave a Vegeta-like smirk and continued. "I heard about your little issue cooking in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber so the computer will also make your meals for you. Just tell it what you want and it will make Saiyan sized portions." At this Gohan gave a nervous laugh and started to drool at the thought of all the food he would get.

Bulma continued with a little laugh knowing exactly what Gohan was thinking, "You should be all set. Everything is ready and you are good to go as soon as you would like." She looked at Gohan with a sad expression on her face, thinking of all the time spent without seeing her godson. Gohan gave her an understanding look, moved to hug her, while ignoring Vegeta and said, "Thank you for this Bulma, I really needed it. I'll be sure to contact you often so you can see how I'm doing."

With that both Bulma and Vegeta left the ship understanding that Gohan wanted to get going right away. Once they were cleared he told the computer to ready for launch and get a course for planet Yardrat. "Here we go." He said to nobody in particular.

Note: Let me know how this is. I truly want feedback of any kind. You could say that I need to clean out my head with bleach to get rid of this crap if you want, it's your opinion that I want. Should I continue or should my story die a long and painful death?


	2. Planet Yardrat

Note: First off, I'm surprised that some people actually like my story, or at least the premise of it. I thought it would be a dud. For those of you who think that I am going to skip years and head straight to high school... That isn't going to happen. Yes, I am going to skip some years but I plan on having at least two adventures in space, the first one starting in this chapter.

Sirius Potter2: You said that you were shocked to see Gohan leave his dying mother like that and just go off into space. While I somewhat agree with you, I still stick with what I have done. In my head, Gohan wouldn't want to see his mother wither away to nothing, because of something he is responsible for, however indirectly. If you have one dead parent and another slowly wasting away based off of your terrible decision, would you want to wait and see what happens? That is my however feeble argument for Gohan rushing off into space.

others: Thanks for reading and especially for the comments. If anyone has questions feel free to put them in a comment or email me/PM me and I will show you how my twisted mind works.

Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, no ownership for me.

Chapter 2 Planet Yardrat

Two months have passed since Gohan set off on his journey to Yardrat. The young demi-saiyan has spent all of his time not sleeping, eating, and recovering in the ship's gravity room.

He is working towards controlling the second level of super saiyan as easily as he did the first. The young saiyan never wanted to lose control over his own power again. The first time that happened was a mistake that came at much too high a price.

During Gohan's time on Bulma's ship, he had come to terms with his parents' death. While he still held a fair amount of guilt for what had happened, he vowed to never beat himself up about it. Yes, he would grieve, but never to the point of losing focus of his mission.

The young demi-saiyan had decided to let his actions honor both his mother and father. He would still study and learn as much as he could about all different things, and still train to the best of his ability in order to keep the ones he cared about safe.

Gohan's journey to Yardrat was coming to a close. He was a few hours away from landing on this new planet. He thought to himself, '_I hope they are as nice to me as they were to my father. I would hate to have to fight these people.'_

----

During Gohan's time in space, Bulma was trying to get her godson's adoption done. The government was being especially difficult with her. They claimed that with all of her responsibilities as head of Capsule Corp. along with her own young son, that she would be 'unfit' to adopt at this point in time.

Bulma was ready to go to court over this when the unthinkable happened. Social workers showed up at the Capsule Corp. front door. They were here to observe Gohan in this new environment and see if the blue haired heiress was taking good enough care of the newly orphaned boy.

Obviously, Bulma could not show the government employees how much Gohan belonged here, as he wasn't there currently and wasn't going to be for the foreseeable future. It wasn't like she could tell them, "Oh, I built him a space ship so he could go grieve and train to eliminate the next new threat, so he won't be around for a while." She didn't think that would help her case at all.

Needless to say, the social workers were not happy when they found out that not one person on Capsule Corporation property knew where the boy was. After the visit Bulma did the only thing that she could; she dropped the adoption case.

'_This next call to Gohan isn't going to be nice. Why can't someone else tell him that he will be stuck with a normal family when he gets back?'_

The government had already picked out a family that they would send Mr. Gohan Son to, once they found him that is. They chose a family in the newly renamed Satan City, as they heard that the young demi-saiyan that they cannot find happens to be quite smart, and that city has the best schools. Mr. and Mrs. Rubber and their daughter Erasa were happy to hear the news that their request for another child was fulfilled, but the feeling was soon taken away when they learned that the boy was a runaway.

-----

Gohan landed on planet Yardrat and took time to find the biggest population around the landing site. He was lucky to have landed relatively close to the capital where the majority of the royal court resided.

The young saiyan flew off to where he felt the large quantity of energies after capsulating his ship.

The people he past looked on in wonder of seeing someone so different than themselves. The people native to planet Yardrat had bodies comparable to those of humans. They had red skin with larger heads than humans. (Going off of what I vaguely remember from the 10 second debut they got on the show).

Gohan flew up to what, too him, seemed like the most important building in the city and started asking around for someone with power. After a few minutes of asking he was surrounded by the royal guard and told to wait patiently for his audience. Shortly after the order to stay put was given, a man came out of the mammoth building in front of them dressed much more formally than the others.

The demi-saiyan's attention was undivided at this point in time. The man walked up the the ring of his guard and said, "I am King Lude, and I am told that you wished to speak with me. Why is it that you wish to do so? Also why are you on our planet?"

Gohan straitened and replied, "I was told of this planet by my father and I wish to learn some of your fighting techniques. I figured that since my presence on your planet is unannounced and uninvited, that I should first come to you before setting out on my task."

The king looked mildly shocked at the answer. He certainly had not expected this from the boy in front of him. King Lude said, "Who was your father? I wish to know if I know of him or not."

The surrounded boy looked saddened, but continued anyway. "My father was Goku, the first Super Saiyan in three millennia. He said that he had crash landed here after his fight with Frieza on Planet Namek. He said that your people had nursed him back to health and taught him a technique called Instant Transmission."

As soon as the half saiyan had said 'Goku' there were mutterings and whispers throughout the substantial crowd that had come to witness this alien speak. King Lude also brightened at the news that this boy was the son of Goku, who had rid the galaxy of a feared tyrant.

"Why did you come here to learn the technique when your father could have shown you how? You needn't make the trip." Lude asked, puzzled by this boy's reason for being on his planet. Though at this next question, he noticed that the boy's shoulders seemed to sag infinitesimally and he didn't seem as open as before.

"My father died fighting an evil being that originated from our home world Earth." Gohan answered and simply left it at that, not wanting to talk about his father's death so soon after it had happened.

Lude picked up on the boy's attitude and quickly changed the subject. "Well, you will be my honored guest, and we shall have a feast in the name of Goku the great hero!" The people cheered at this news and Gohan's stomach grumbled audibly at any saiyan's favorite word.

The feast turned out to be a huge success, and it also seemed to ease some of the strain and regret off of the young demi-saiyan's thoughts. The people who ate around him were astounded at watching him eat, even after having witnessed his father's appetite while he was on the planet. A single thought went through the noble's heads while watching. _'The boy eats as much as us!'_

-----

Gohan had spent a week at King Lude's palace, while having some of the finest warriors teach him the renown Instant Transmission technique. He had finally gotten it down pat, and his teachers told him that he learned just as quickly as his father.

After a little light sparring so that the people of Yardrat could see how they measure up against the son of Goku, Gohan's head snapped up with enough force to break anyone else's neck. He got a bad feeling, and was sensing an evil power coming towards the planet.

Gohan realized with a start that this power felt remarkably like Frieza and King Cold's ki. While this new threat to the planet Yardrat was no match for him, the indigenous people were not up to his standard of fighting. Gohan thought idly _'Even Krillin or Yamcha could take out this planet without a sweat'_

Without a word to his newly made friends the young saiyan flew off towards King Lude to make him aware of this situation. When Gohan arrived at the king's side he realized that King Lude had many advisors talking to him and he had a several hologram maps of the surrounding areas on a projection tablet an advisor handed him.

The spaceship, which they now had picture of, was going to land a good ways away from the capital city in around an hour. When Gohan saw a picture of this new threat, he couldn't contain a gasp. Lude had heard him and turned to his direction. "Do you know this ship, boy?"

Gohan quickly answered knowing the importance of the question. "It looks like both Frieza and King Cold's ship, even though both of those people are dead. The leader's ki feels familiar, but I cannot pinpoint it. Do you wish me to fight with you? I fear that your people will be overwhelmed."

Lude seemed to sigh. He did not want to ask this of the boy, even as it may be key to his race's survival. The boy was a guest. How could he ask his own honored guest to risk life and limb in a fight that was not his? The young demi-saiyan, who had been waiting for a response, decided for the king.

"I will fight with you and your people. After sensing all the powers on the ship, I fear that you will all perish without my help." With this response, the king didn't want to show his relief that his people would have a better chance with a very strong warrior on their side. He masked his reaction to that of reluctance, and said, "If you feel you must help us, we will do nothing to stop you."

-----

After the ship landed, Gohan could sense that only one power level was heading towards the palace. He also noticed that were he not there, the people would be severely outclassed and would have no chance of survival, should this meeting go the wrong way. The young saiyan also thought that it was a very good thing that he had been keeping his power level even lower than that of the indigenous people.

A few moments later, Gohan was brought from his musings by the arrival or the threat's messenger. The man was a very tall reptilian-like humanoid being. He was a dark purple in color and had standard issue saiyan armor and scouter over his left eye. His scale covered skin seemed very out of place in this environment.

To Gohan this warrior's power level was laughably low, and it took all of the willpower he had to keep from chuckling to himself. That being said a very saiyan smirk did make itself known of his face. The warrior called himself Evora.

Evora had come to make a deal with the King of the planet. "If you and your warriors both pledge themselves to the Cold Empire and teach their fearless and all powerful leader Lady Cold along with the rest of the elite warriors on her ship the Instant Transmission technique, then Planet Yardrat will remain in one piece and its' people still alive."

Before Lude had even started to consider his options before him, Gohan spoke up. "How about this? You and the rest of the Cold Empire leave this planet and all other peace loving planets alone and you and the rest of those people on that ship get to walk away from this planet alive."

Everyone excluding Evora gasped at the boy's bold statement. King Lude was about to interject when Evora's rage overcame him and he forgot his role as messenger. Evora screamed, "Who are you BOY? How dare you talk to a representative of the Cold Empire that way? I should kill you where you stand simply for thinking such things."

As he calmed down a fraction, he checked the boy's power level with his scouter. He openly laughed to himself when he saw that the boy's power was not more than a fifth of his own.

Before Evora even had a chance to even process what had happened Gohan had rushed forward and rammed his elbow into Evora's stomach, breaking the durable saiyan armor and crippling the warrior and sending him to the ground.

Gohan grabbed the back of Evora's armor and picked him up, while he was still struggling to figure out what had caused him so much overwhelming pain. With what seemed like a casual flick of the wrist Gohan launched the purple warrior in the direction of the enemy spaceship.

Gohan turned to King Lude, "There was no reason to be intimidated by them while I am on your planet. By the time this is done, I hope to finally be done with the Cold family along with the rest of the universe." The king simply nodded, in awe of the display the boy had just shown him. Gohan continued, "They probably wanted to learn your valued technique so that they could purge planets faster, since they wouldn't have to wait around for their spaceships to make it from planet to planet. Giving in would have not only destroyed your race's honor and dignity, but would have started to a whole new reign of suffering everywhere. Failure is not an option here."

With that Gohan turned and walked off to the kitchens to eat, while the rest of the people in the room stared in awe of the boy's maturity and forethought into just one simple encounter with an enemy.


	3. Information

Disclaimer: For some reason my request to own DBZ was denied.

Note: A little shorter chapter than the others that I have put out so far. Sorry, I guess.

Sirius Potter2: Yes, normal rules and government policies would not matter to Gohan, or any of the Z fighters really. They all hold the potential to crush anyone on Earth that would oppose them, other than themselves. As much as Gohan would rather live by himself, or with Bulma, he is going to be following his mother's decision to learn. I think I said that in the first chapter, if not than oops. But he will go with the flow, so to speak, when it comes to finally learning about the adoption mishap, and being 'forced' to move in with normal people. Plus I thought it would be cool to have Erasa going all boy crazy about Gohan with having to live with him.

Others that reviewed: Thanks for reading and I hope to keep your interest in this story.

------

Chapter 3

Lady Cold and her minions were starting to set up camp while they awaited their trusted messenger to return from securing their rightful place in history. The leader of the group seemed like she was watching her men set up camp, but was lost in her inner musings. _With this new technique, not only will I be that much more formidable of an opponent, I will make much more money with the amount of planets that my men and I can purge. Planets that we used to discount because of the time it would take to get there in spacecraft would be open for sale. I could honestly have the entire universe under my control, instead of just the few galaxies that my spaceships can reach now._

She was jolted from her dreams and aspirations of suffering and conquest when her messenger made his own crater at her feet. Confused as to what had happened, she kicked him lightly to see if he was alive. When she got a groan in response she told one of her elites to move him into a rejuvenation tank so that he could heal and she could figure out just what the hell happened to him.

_The people on this planet should not be that strong! We made sure of it when we were entering the atmosphere!_

Lady Cold demanded that her right hand man go and sort this out. "Hagor, I want you to go to the palace and figure out just who has the audacity to openly defy the Cold Empire. You will not kill this person. You will bring whoever it is to me, so that I can make an example out of him, and get rid of pesky little peasants like them."

Hagor, always quick to carry out orders, simply responded, "Yes Ma'am" and took off into the skies in the general direction of the palace.

Lady Cold was furious that someone had the gall to do this to her men. It isn't that she cared for them, it is that she expected the respect given to her should be given, by any outsiders, to all of those associated with her. _Well if this person can defy Hagor as well, I may have to actually do something to whoever this is. Either way, I am buying time to get information. Either Hagor comes back with this upstart, or Evora wakes up and tells me how he got beaten._

---------

Gohan, done with his food, sat back in his chair in the palace kitchen and patted his stomach in satisfaction. It had been awhile since he has eating something that he had not had before. _Whatever it is that they are making me is great. It may not look like much but it almost matches what...Mom...used to..._

Before Gohan could get caught in the past he noticed a fairly larger power level making its' way to the palace. Taking note of this, the young saiyan decided to go and find the king and report this finding.

As it turned out he didn't need to. He found the king staring off into the direction the power was coming from. Gohan spoke up, "Don't worry, he won't harm anyone. I'll make sure of it." After saying this, Gohan took to the skies to head off this new threat.

The new threat looked like Dadoria could have been his brother. Just as pink and just as fat, with spikes coming up at seemingly random points of his body.

Hagor and Gohan met over the fairly large capitol city. The esteemed Cold Empire warrior smirked when he saw that it was just a boy that he was facing. He thought to himself, _Ha, Evora is such a weakling to be taken out by this scrawny boy!_

The young saiyan, noticing the smirk, spoke first. "What are you doing here, and who do you work for? I thought that the Cold Empire was long gone after I saw Frieza and King Cold die."

Hagor was visibly thrown by the boy's remark. "As I told your friend who came by earlier, the Cold Empire is not welcome on this planet and should leave as soon as possible in order to remain alive" the boy continued.

Hagor laughed, and his laughter deepened when he saw the boy's reaction to it. Gohan could feel his saiyan side coming to the surface, and his saiyan side did not like being mocked.

Moving quickly Gohan shot forward and kicked the pink alien in the head effectively knocking him out. Again Gohan picked up the intruder and threw him back to the enemy space ship.

------

Lady Cold was thinking to herself about who it could be that would do such a thing to one of her elites. Her first thought would have been a saiyan, but there are not many left and the ones that are, would not be on a planet like this. Dismissing this idea she moved onto her rivals, the Optiquens. They are the only true threat remaining besides the few dirty monkeys that are scattered across the galaxies.

The Optiquens are a large dog/wolf like creatures that stand on two legs. They are covered in fur and at least seven feet tall. They are the only true large rival to the Cold Empire and they have made themselves a very annoying thorn in the side of Lady Cold, since the disappearance of her mate and son. The Optiquens have proven themselves more than ruthless enough to take over the position of rulers of the north quadrant, though Lady Cold would never give up that particular title.

For the second time that day, the Cold Empress had found her thoughts disrupted by yet another one of her men creating a crater in her newly set up camp. Losing all patience she issues three orders then leaves in search of this annoyance. One, kill both Evora and Hagor, two stay by the ship, and three wait for her return. Once she got affirmatives from her men she left.

--------

Gohan decided that with the Cold Empire creeping up again, he would go ahead and call home and ask to speak with Vegeta. The young demi-saiyan decapsulated his space ship and went inside to the comms room. He quickly established a link with Bulma's lab to see her working intently on something or another, trying to make it work.

Trying to get her attention Gohan spoke up, "Bulma! I need to talk."

Bulma who had been doing something that required a lot of finesse, almost snapped at whoever had just disrupted her concentration, when it clicked in her brain that it was her godson who was talking, and not her mate yelling at her to fix the gravity room. She brightened at the thought of speaking to Gohan before rushing over to the screen.

"Heya, kid. What's going on?" Bulma was surprised that Gohan actually seemed really serious for once. "Bulma, I need to speak with Vegeta, and if I could ask, could you hurry? This is something somewhat time sensitive."

Bulma just nodded and set off on her quest to find her soon to be grumpy mate. After a few minutes of waiting. Vegeta and Bulma entered the lab. Vegeta looked plenty angry at being interrupted in his training to surpass the esteemed Kakabrat.

Gohan, upon seeing Vegeta, started talking. "Vegeta, how many people are in the Cold family?" The prince showed that he was surprised before quickly hiding behind his usual cold stare. "Why do you need to know Kakabrat? Is the invincible, fictitious 'Lady Cold' there at your doorstep?"

Gohan hesitated, "Well... actually, um, Vegeta, yeah she is heading this way now." Vegeta left all remnants of his facade behind and yelled, "WHAT?? SHE IS REAL?" before calming himself and continuing, "Nobody knew of Frieza's mother, and she was rumored to be insatiable, when it comes to killing things."

Gohan sighed slightly, "Outstanding... Well Vegeta, she has sent two scouts separately to Planet Yardrat's capital, hoping to muscle cooperation from the people here. Needless to say, I dealt with them. Now she seems to have gotten the message that her peons can't compare with me and is coming herself to get what she wants. I think that they want to learn the Instant Transmission technique so that they can purge planets faster and make more money that way."

Both Vegeta and Bulma went into their own thoughts. The saiyan prince was the first to speak. "Well it's possible that they found out about the technique and do wish to use it as you have said. I would imagine that there would be another motive as well. The Cold Empire doesn't take to change very well. One of the reasons that our race is now on the brink of extinction. The saiyans were beginning to change the way that the Cold Empire thought about battle and came to fear what we saiyans might become, so they wiped us out." He paused to take a breath. "I think that there is someone who is coming in on their territory which is forcing them to learn new things and do things differently so that they can eliminate the threat." The prince stopped.

The others listening in on the conversation nodded showing that they followed his logic. Almost as an afterthought, Vegeta added, "I think that we will have taken care of the entire Cold family after today."

Gohan looked relieved. "Good, there isn't anyone else after... Listen guys, I gotta go." With that the young saiyan cut the connection and capsulated his ship to ready for the last member of the Cold family.


	4. Fight, Mistake, Solution

Ch 4

Gohan was floating a few miles away from the Palace to give it s small amount of protection so that it had a reasonable chance of staying upright after this soon to be battle. While he was waiting, he was wondering how to handle this situation. He knew he didn't want to toy with the 'fictitious' Lady Cold, as Vegeta called her.

This was Gohan's problem. While he knew he was many times stronger than her, at least in the form she was in now, his saiyan side would want to prolong the battle. The idea appealed to more than just his saiyan half, but the intellectual side of him knew that he should end it quickly and move on.

It was the warring ideals of his parents again. Goku would set his power level to around his enemy's and then let skill determine the outcome. ChiChi's intellectual side knew that prolonging the fight would only lead to chances of mistakes. Mistakes were costly.

Overall he decided to have a fairly even fight with the tyrant to work on his new talents that he had developed on the journey to this planet, but he would be ready to do a quick power up and take her out quickly, should she prove to be a significant threat to the planet and people.

As the demi-saiyan came to this conclusion he noticed that Lady Cold was fairly close and started to move towards her. The closer the two soon to be fighters became the slower they moved, until they came to a standstill about ten feet away from each other.

Lady Cold looked like Frieza did in his final from except she seemed a little bulkier than Gohan remembered his childhood nightmare was. They were just floating there, staring each other down. Neither wanted to be the first to speak and show weakness.

Finally Lady Cold's curiosity got the better of her and she relented. "Are you the one who beat both of my men? You obviously aren't from this planet, so why protect them?"

Gohan's stare, if possible, got even colder and more heartless. He answered the tyrant in a very saiyan-like manner. "Why not protect them? I need some practice." He ended with a smirk.

Lady Cold blanched. _The nerve of this kid. DOESN'T HE KNOW WHO I AM?_ With barely contained rage the tyrant responded with, "You should know who your superiors are, boy. I am the one who rules this empire. I-"

She was cut off by the demi-saiyan. "Yes, yes, yes. That's all well and good, but you are no match for me. That is unless you have more than a few more forms to take. By the way, do you know where your mate and son are? It's just idle curiosity."

Lady Cold's arms were shaking in rage, but the comment about her family struck a cord in her. _This kid knows where my mate and son are? No way. I have been looking for them for years and have never found them._ "You're bluffing, and you have no idea where my king and son are."

Gohan gave a small chuckle and they started explaining as if his opposition was little baby Trunks back home. "Now, now, my _Lady_, you should really get to know your enemy before you discount them. As for your family, I know of their whereabouts. I was there when they were killed." After letting that bomb drop he stayed silent with his saiyan smirk on his face knowing it would just further enrage his opponent.

His only response was a barely intelligible scream of "They are NOT DEAD" before the fight began.

Gohan who was still in his base from was staying purely defensive only dodging and blocking when necessary. In a lull of the fury of punches and kicks from Lady Cold, Gohan spoke up. "Would you please transform into your final form, because this is dreadful. I can't believe people think that you have such power if this is it."

Lady Cold didn't even stop to think about it. She went through two quick transformations back to back. Her final form was somewhere between what the demi-saiyan remembered of King Cold and the final form of Frieza.

"Is this what you wanted, boy? Are you going to go and cry back to mommy now that you have felt my true power?" Too which Gohan calmly replied, "Congratulations, Lady Cold you are actually going to force my to go super saiyan to fight you. Not too many people can do that you should be proud."

At this the tyrant laughed. "The saiyans are dead boy, my son killed them all. Serves them right the mongrels they were. I only wish I was the one-"

"Now, now Lady Cold, just look at who you are fighting." Still talking like he would to a child. "Black hair, black eyes, humanoid body, the only thing I am missing is a tail, but I got rid of that weakness long ago. I still miss it sometimes." Gohan finished with a sigh.

Lady Cold, who now took a good look at this kid in front of her and realized that he was right. Without the tail, he looked exactly like all those other beasts. Before she could go on in her musings the young boy spoke again.

"You must remember the reason your son tried to wipe us all our correct? The legendary Super Saiyan transformation that was said to be so powerful the first couldn't contain it and destroyed a whole planet just by being on it." He paused to take a breath. "Well nowadays we saiyans don't have to transform into out oozaro states to achieve super saiyan level. Now we simply transform as we are."

As he finished he effortlessly transformed into the blonde haired, green eyed super saiyan. He cut off his power up just a little above what Lady Cold was currently at now, still ready to go further at a moments notice.

The leader of the Cold Empire was now worried. The transformation seemed so easy to this boy. She discreetly sent a signal to her ship to launch in ten minutes then launch a planet killing blast to get rid of this saiyan scum.

The now blonde boy was tired of waiting. He idly realized that being in the super saiyan state had heightened his saiyan side and instincts. Without warning he shot forward and landed a single blow across the tyrant's jawline sending her flying until she got her wits about her.

Recognizing that this boy is stronger than her, she decides to draw this out so that her ship can get far enough away so that it can kill this puny planet and be on her way. Engaging the boy she knew that she was in the fight of her life.

Gohan felt his mind semi disengage and he fell into his love of fighting and left this fight to his instincts and training. The familiar back and forth of blows neither landing a conclusive hit was almost soothing to him. _This is what I needed all this time. To relax into the fight_. Gohan took a little more control of the fight and wanted to end it soon and go back to the palace with his new friends.

The young saiyan started landing blows. First a round house kick to the ribs, then an elbow in the sternum, and finally another fist in the face. He smiled as he heard the tell tale crack of a broken nose. He reveled in his opponents frustration and pain. While he had been hit also, it wasn't near bad enough to warrant worry.

Just as Gohan was about to engage again, Lady Cold started chuckling. Confused as to what was funny when you are hopelessly outmatched, and his face must have showed it.

"Boy, you really are a fool. Tell me, can you breathe in space? I know I can."

The temporary blonde's intellectual side kicked in and wondered how she was going to destroy the planet when he was so close to her.

"My space ship is equipped with a weapon that is only named planet killer, and I assure you, it lives up to its name."

Shock was the only thing that Gohan felt at this point in time. Not willing to make the same mistake again, he powered up into super saiyan two and fired a blast that vaporized Lady Cold. As he finished he turned to his senses and tried to figure out which were foreign and which were domestic. His blood ran cold when he noticed that the blast was already tearing up the topsoil of the planet. He desperately looked for a solution.

His mind made up he used the instant transmission technique to get back to the palace and landed in front of the king. He explained his idea and told them that everything would be okay. The king agreed as there wasn't much else he could do with the situation as it was.

Gohan used the same technique to get to an open area so he could decapsuleize his space ship. He set in his coordinates and his ship was off.

Pissed at himself for messing up again, he comforted himself by saying at least he had a solution.

On the way to New Namek, he brushed up on the language and trained. As it would take around a week to get there.

The call back to Earth had been entertaining, as he told Vegeta that he had killed the 'unbeatable' Lady Cold with just one serious attack. _Ah goading Vegeta is so much fun_. He almost had the saiyan prince demanding another ship like Gohan's to come up here and beat me. _Like he could. Ha!_

Arriving on New Namek, Gohan looked around and saw that it was almost exactly as he remembered old Namek being like. The only difference was that the trees were shorter. After closing his ship in a capsule he set off to find Elder Muri.

A short discussion later, and the young saiyan was given permission to bring back planet Yardrat and all of its inhabitants. Gohan realized that he had a third wish to make but didn't know what to make it on.

Of course collecting the dragon balls was child's play with instant transmission, and Gohan quickly had all seven and was back in front of Elder Muri. While Gohan was comfortable speaking Namekian, he didn't want to make the wish in case he made a mistake.

The giant dragon appeared in its usual fashion and asked, **"YOU HAVE SUMMONED ME WHAT ARE YOU WISHES?**"

Muri quickly translated the wish for Planet Yardrat to be restored to its original place.

"**IT IS DONE, YOU HAVE TWO WISHES LEFT. HURRY UP SO I CAN RETURN TO MY SLUMBER.**"

Muri then asked for all of the indigenous people to planet Yardrat be restored back to life.

This took a little while longer than the first, and finally the red eyes of the dragon ceased glowing. "**WHAT IS YOUR FINAL WISH?**"

This took more thought on behalf of Gohan. He knew he couldn't wish back his parents, as Goku wanted to stay dead and ChiChi wanted to stay with Goku. Thats when it hit him.

"Muri say that I wish to be able to transverse the dimensions between life and death freely without having to die beforehand." As Muri translated Gohan thought over his choice. To be able to see his parents whenever he liked. He knew he couldn't spend too much time there as his place now was among the living and protecting Earth when he got back to it. He knew that time moved differently in Otherworld than in the land of the living. He didn't know the effects of doing something like this would be. He just hoped it didn't come back to bite him.

"**YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. I WILL RETURN TO MY SLUMBER."**

Gohan turned introspective. He didn't feel any different. He didn't know if he should or not. In the end he decided to talk with Bulma and then try it. If for nothing else than to see what would happen. He thanked Muri for all of his help and went on his way.

He chuckled to himself. _Well at least this conversation with Bulma will be interesting. Maybe I can piss off Vegeta more when I tell him I'm going to go fight dad again. _

Gohan lazily flew along finding a good enough spot for his ship to settle so that he can make his call.

Finding a good place a ways away from everything, he set down and let out his space ship.


	5. House Call

AN: Hey there readers. This is on the short side, BUT I have the next few short ones like this written without editing. So you will probably get three to five more baby ones like this until I get into bigger chapters again as I get Gohan back to Earth. Enjoy and Reviews are appreciated.

Disclaimer: Imagine that, I do own this. Also, if you believe that than send me your credit card information along with your name and date of birth. Obviously you must do this after looking at the NAME of the site you are on. I seriously wonder sometimes.

Gohan is inside his space ship sitting in the command chair currently deciding how to break the news to Bulma that he has the power to go and see her oldest friend again. Coincidentally this person he was going to visit was his father. A father who had abandoned him on more than one occasion. Not always his fault, but the effects on his child psyche were there.

After a few minutes of debating with himself he decides that he would tell Bulma if she came forward with what she had been hiding on his last couple of calls. He could hold information if she would.

The sayian child was ready for the call, but had to wait a few minutes for someone to come through on the other end. Finally, Bulma's blue haired head showed up on the screen.

"Hey there kiddo. How's space treatin' you?"

With a smirk Gohan replied, "Not bad. Only one planetary destruction so far." Passing off his experience as if he was commenting on the weather.

For a moment she just stares at his gobsmacked. After a few seconds it clicked in her head and looked both sad and like she had an honest question. "You did fix Yardrat, didn't you?"

The demi-sayian had to remind himself that he was speaking with the smartest person on Earth. He went on to explain what happened and his wishes.

Finishing his story, he gains a mischievous smirk on his face, that instantly puts Bulma on guard. "Could you get Vegeta for me?" he said in an all too innocent tone.

After waiting a while and hearing adequate yelling coming from the other side of the call, Gohan knows that this was going to be completely worth any and all repercussions.

The sayian prince steps onto the screen muttering in sayian under his breath, forgetting that the only person who can understand him is on the other side of the call.

Gohan says in passable sayian, "_Guess who gets to fight Kakarot in a few days?_" As soon as the last word leaves his mouth, a look of absolute rage is on the prince's face. One, for knowing he heard his complaining about threats of celibacy from a certain mate, and two for the statement itself.

"_Kakabrat you are extremely lucky you are so far away from me right now. I should beat you into the ground for your insolence!"_

"_Ha! like you could 'your highness'. My little tiff with the last of the Cold Empire destroyed the planet, so with the last wish I had, I gained the ability to change dimensions with no consequences of death."_ He paused. _"If it makes you feel better 'my liege' when I return, I will consent to a spar only using Kakarot's level and no more."_

The prince perked up at this, while inside he was giddy with happiness that he had his chance, if one could call it that, to finally have closure on his one time rival's death and inferiority to himself.

At that moment Bulma squeezed herself into the screen with Vegeta making no room for her. She gave up and gave a world class glare at her husband while said husband remembered the threat that got him to that spot in the first place and wisely made room.

Gohan took it upon himself to explain again in english what his wishes were and what his plan was. _Screw withholding information, this is family_. Bulma must have had the same thought and looked a little apprehensive.

"Gohan, we ran into a little problem here." She paused collecting strength for the next statement that she really didn't want to say. "We weren't able to adopt you. We tried everything, but when they came for a home visit you obviously weren't here and I really couldn't say that I sent a pre-teen off into space with a unique spaceship utilizing alien technology. They really wouldn't of liked that answer. So I had to tell them that you weren't able to be found, and they took that the wrong way also, and... Sorry I'm rambling."

Taking a deep breath to calm and collect her thoughts. "Child Services said that you were to be put with a normal family. The Rubber family. They have a daughter your age and said that they had always wanted another child but Mrs. Rubber couldn't due to complications with the first. I think the daughter's name is Erasa. Anyway that isn't important at the moment we will fill you in and see if they can be trusted with out secret or not. It will be tough but we will pull through, we always do."

Gohan was just staring off at nothing at the moment. He didn't know what to do with this information. He had always counted on being at Capsule Corp both training and working for Bulma. Now he would have to work around this family for both training time and advanced studying time. It wasn't like he could neglect this family. They truly wanted another child and they were stuck with him and couldn't even get another.

"Bulma, it's okay. You tried your best. Concentrate on how we can work our stories so that I will be able to spend a lot of time at Capsule Corp, so that I can train, work for you, and be with Trunks. I'll plan on being back around my sixteenth birthday. That gives us most of the summer to work on our plan and stories. I want to give this family at least some time with me. They wanted to adopt someone out of the goodness of their hearts, I won't let that go to waste."

After a few more questions from both ends the call was over with one more threat of both pain and sleeping on the couch.

Gohan went back out of the ship, capsulized it, and thought on how he would get to otherworld.

"Well, I guess I could just use Instant Transmission"

The young sayian put two fingers to his forehead and focused on his father.

What he ended up in front of was not his father. What he ended up in front of was a short, fat, blue man with whiskers and antennas. "Well, aren't you a weird one, do you by chance know who Goku is?"

"Of course I know Gohan, I'm King Kai!" the blue man, now King Kai answered.


	6. A Tournament?

AN: Usual stuff here I guess. Feel free to tell me what you think. Don't be shy now

"Are you sure you're King Kai? You don't look like much of a fighter." said Gohan in an honestly curious tone.

The Kai's face took on a slight purple tint at his embarrassment. He yelled, "OF COURSE I AM! I trained your father when he died the first time, and I am helping him train for this tournament that the Grand Kai is hosting..." King Kai broke off and started mumbling something unintelligible.

"Sorry what was that King Kai?"

"The tournament is celebrating my death at the hands of your father and cell. My poor planet." He broke off again in light sobs.

Gohan really didn't want to deal with a crying Kai. He interrupted King Kai's pity party and asked, "Well could you tell me where my father is? Also can I participate in this tournament?"

King Kai recovered from his complaining quickly. "Well Gohan, we would have to clear it with the other Kais and the Grand Kai himself."

Excitement filled Gohan. "What are you waiting for! Let's go! There has to be strong people here. I hope I can get a good challenge." His thrill for battle showing strongly.

King Kai led Gohan into the meeting room for all of the Kais. The four others were there sitting around the table talking amongst themselves. One was a very tall man who had pale yellow skin and large lips. He introduced himself as the South Kai. One was a rather plump woman with red hair. She introduced herself as East Kai. Another was by far the shortest of them all, and had a monocle. He was introduced as West Kai, since he was arguing with the North Kai who had led Gohan there. The last was an old man with a long white beard and was looking at the argument with amusement.

Grand Kai interrupted both the North and West Kais and stated the question that most in the room were thinking. In his raspy deep voice he said, "Now how did you, a living person, end up here on my planet in Otherworld?"

Gohan gave the infamous Son Grin and was rubbing the back of his head. "Well, it is an interesting story." He paused and waited, forcing the Kais to lean forward in their seats. "I had an extra wish and this seemed like a good idea at the time." The Kais fell off their seats.

"That's it? You had a wish? How did a wish get you into Otherworld?"

The demi-sayian continued his tale, "Well, after Lady Cold decided to blow up the planet I was on, I decided to wish the planet back into existence, then to bring the people back to life, after that I was stumped as to how I was going to use up the last wish. The dragon was getting a little irritable, so I made it so I could visit my dad whenever I wanted." Intentionally leaving out parts to piss them off, causing more questions than the ones he had answered.

North Kai, who was the only one with experience with the dragon balls, was chuckling into his hands at the others' confusion and West Kai called him on it. After a fairly lengthy conversation explaining the Dragon Balls and their function, Gohan finally got a chance to ask his question.

"So, Grand Kai, I hear that there is going to be a tournament soon. Can I join in? I'm a fairly good fighter, and would like to test myself against past heroes and get a more diverse fighting experience pool to draw from, than what I usually get." Deliberately downplaying his skills and utilizing a half-truth as to why he would like to fight. He really just wanted to fight his dad again, to prove that he is stronger, but if he gets to fight others, why not.

As Grand Kai was looking the boy over, Gohan was deliberately lowering his power level to some of the others he felt around in the area. West Kai, sputtered and yelled in his nasally voice, "No mere child could hope to stand a chance in this kind of elite tournament! You are not even dead! You couldn't hope to challenge even the weakest of West quadrant." Ending his little rant with smug superiority, he thought that the Grand Kai would agree with him. The other Kais were making similar statements. North Kai was simply smiling thinking of how he was going to cash in if Gohan was allowed to fight.

The Grand Kai nodded his permission and said, "It's all cool." With those three words the lesser Kais erupted into chaos. West, East, and South were protesting loudly, while North was gloating. North Kai was also happy that he now had this tournament in the bag and wanted to start making bets on the outcome, but would wait until he was away from the Grand Kai to do so.

While the four Kais were complaining, shouting, arguing, and plotting Grand Kai slipped next to Gohan and said, "Try to make the fights at least interesting, we need a good show now don't we." The demi-sayian was shocked that this man had read him so well, but simply nodded and went to stand next to North Kai's chair to ask him to lead him to his father. He could have just used Instant Transmission, but he didn't want to be rude to the people who would decide his place in Otherworld when it came time to stay for good.

As they were walking through the halls of Grand Kai's mansion, North Kai was warning Gohan, "Now this isn't like anything you have done before Gohan. This is an intense struggle amongst the dead. The prize of this tournament is a lesson from the Grand Kai himself." Gohan thought about this. The man who had called him out when he thought he was covering himself so well. It would be beneficial to learn what he could from the ruler of this planet. North Kai continued, oblivious about Gohan's inner musings. "Normally you have to wait until you have trained for ten thousand years until you get the opportunity."

They continued talking about the different types of competitors that the raven haired teen would likely fight against and the strengths and weaknesses of the different quadrants fighters. All the while getting closer and closer to where Goku is currently training for his part of the upcoming tournament.

North Kai yelled out, "Goku! Come here there is a surprise for you!" Goku's excitement was almost palpable even from where they were standing. The adult sayian quickly made his way towards his Kai, but froze as soon as he saw who was standing next to him. Goku couldn't get over the fact that his son was already dead. He failed. He didn't save anyone with his decision to stay dead. He failed.

Gohan knew what was going on in his fathers head and just stood there smirking at him. After a minute or so he pointed above his head, to save his father some of his anguish.

Goku's mood did a complete 180 when he saw that there was no halo above his young son's head. He smiled brightly and finished walking over towards his son to give him a hug.

Even though Gohan thought he didn't want or need one, as soon as his father's protective arms closed around him, he felt much better than he had in a very long time. The demi-sayian knew the reasons behind his fathers choice and understood them, but the irrational part of his brain just wanted his father back and forget about all the consequences.

Then Gohan remembered the tournament. A face splitting grin appeared on his face. "So, dad, I hear something exciting is going on sometime soon."

At his son's statement, Goku's face matched his. His sayian instincts coming to the forefront. "Yes there is son, and I plan on winning the tournament."

Gohan's face morphed into what he had been calling his 'saiyan smirk'. He was of the belief that all sayians were born with their own. Every sayian he had met had one, and each was unique to that person, while getting the same point across. Even little baby Trunks had one. The saiyan smirk was a cross between the persons condescending, superiority, and challenging looks.

Goku recognizing the look for what it was, connected the dots and came to the conclusion that his son would be fighting also.

After the normal catching up, and North Kai saying that he needed to leave to go place some bets with the West Kai, the father and son pair decided to kill the little time until the tournament with a little light sparring.

AN: I hope I covered the people in this chapter well enough. I couldn't get Grand Kai's method of speech quite right, but beyond that let me know what to change or do differently.

Don't be shy now.


End file.
